Canada Yearbook - 1897

246 STATISTICAL YEAR-BOOK.
The condition of the export trade of the last five years is more clearly
shown by this method, in the! following table, than it could be by a
mere statement of actual values :—
1893.
1894.
1895.
1896.
1897.
Actual value of exports..
Value at prices of previous
year
Variation fromquantities
" prices....
Actual difference in
value
102,006,490
101,946,000
+ 0,201,000
+ 61,000
+ 0,322,237
100,580,853
103,900,000
+ 1,900,000
- 3,319,000
1,419,637
99,528,351
99,627,000
- 958.000
- 100,000
1,058,504
106,378,752
111,317,000
+ 11,789,000
- 4,939,000
+ 6,850,401
119,685,410
125,090,000
-\ 18,712,000
— 5,405,000
-13,306,658
1893.
1894.
1895. 1896.
1897.
Actual value of total
trade*
Value at prices of previous
year
Variation from quantities
" prices...
Actual difference in
value
223,711,520
226,277,000
+ 13,611,000
— 2,564.000
+ 11,048,324
213,680,836
221,087,000
- 2,621,000
- 7,408,000
204,780,862
215,781,000
+ 2,103,000
-11,002,000
216,966,232
221,434,000
+ 16,053,000
- 4,469,000
-10,030,684 — 8,899,976 + 12,185,370
* Imports for Home Consumption and Exports of Canadian produce only.
230,979,431
240,204,000
+ 23,239,000
- 9,225,000
-14,013,199
In order to ascertain in what proportion the changes in a series of
years in the values both of particular items and in the grand total, have
been due to an increased or diminished volume of articles or to a variation
in their price, tables relating to the exports of Canadian produce
have been prepared on apian suggested some time ago in the " Journal
of the Royal Statistical Society," by Mr. Stephen^ Bourne, F.S.S., by
which, by means of index numbers, it can be' readily seen in what respects
the results of the several years correspond to or differ from one
another, both as regards quantity and price. The year 1883 has been
taken as the year of comparison, because in that year—with the exception
of 1892, 1893, 1896 and 1897 the total trade of the country reached
the highest amount since confederation, and, as long as the conditions
of trade are fairly equal, it is not very material which year is used_ for
the purpose. Individual calculations have been made for 63 distinct
articles, in order to make up the several groups in the table, and these
furnish a wide enough range for assuming that the remaining articles,
manv of which cannot, for want of definite information in the Trade
and Navigation Returns as to quantities, be so estimated, may be taken
in the same ratio as the specified articles are found to yield. The num-